With all the teary and predictably over-hyped noise around the demise of Michael Jackson the most disturbing thing is the pass he is getting for being a notorious pedophile. Most people will agree that child molestation is right at the top of the list of heinous crimes, yet even when he was alive Mr. Jackson was excused for these crimes as though they were just part of his overall whacky behavior. Whacky though he clearly was he was also a predator and should have been prosecuted and removed from society into a jail cell.

Most pedophiles, like Jackson, come from very troubled and abusive homes and have difficulty forming meaningful adult relationships. He clearly had a very unpleasant upbringing and was very likely abused himself. This is a common pattern, but nowhere else is it an excuse for preying upon other children before the law and those who do it are dealt with severely both in sentencing and in society. Who among us would knowingly hire a convicted pedophile? Or have one move in next door?

The evidence of Jackson’s guilt over the years has never seriously been in question. From that night when he showed up to an award ceremony in the mid-80’s with Brooke Shields and little child star Emmanual Lewis, it was pretty obvious where Jackson’s affections lay. Nobody seriously thought he was getting busy with Shields who looked like Superman standing next to him. When police raided his Neverland ranch they found all the classic trappings of a career pedophile. Not only was there a petting zoo but Jackson’s bedroom featured a variety of kid’s games was at the end of a long isolated hallway that had trip alarms installed to alert him when anyone was coming in time to get pajamas pulled back up. He fed children alcohol, or “Jesus Juice,” and police also found a huge collection of photo albums and pictures of nude and semi-nude boys. And most damning of all was that one of his victims was able to identify Mr. Jackson’s distinct penis, with it discolored patches a result of the skin disease vitiligo. The description given by the boy, down to the size and shape of the patches, was exactly how it looked when Jackson had to let it be photographed by police. Had that case gone to trial he would have most certainly been convicted and jailed.

Like most pedophiles, Jackson didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. This is clear in the Bashir documentary where he freely admits sharing his bed with visiting children, something a more savvy predator would not have done. Jackson’s sexuality was probably as confused as everything else in his pathetic life and he no doubt thought he was spreading “love” as he knew it. But that’s not what it was. Like most wealthy pedophiles, Jackson focused on poor kids, stooping even so low as to engage low income children suffering from cancer in need of financial help, such as the one he had cuddling with him in Martin Bashir’s documentary. Engaging in sex with children is not “love,” it is a crime and he should have gone to jail for it, which is exactly where he would have ended up had he not been able to buy off his accusers.

Michael Jackson was a great dancer, had two hugely successful albums and maintained our attention with the ongoing tragedy, calculated to distract our attention and not, that was his life. The question we all need to ask ourselves is what does giving Jackson a pass for molesting children mean? If it’s okay for him, and in fact if he’s glorified, won’t send the clear signal to others who do or want to share their love with children that it’s not really that bad? If it was okay for Jackson, and we are willing not only to turn a blind eye but to continue to revere him, can it really be NOT okay for others?

The sad reality of our society is that as the Jackson merchandising machine is established over the next few years with it’s revenue hungry focus on sparkling soxes and gloves and moonwalks, the revelations from victims that will inevitably come out will only turn up the media heat. The dark revelations of the worst sort will only help sell even more albums and DVD’s while underlining the core message- that even so heinous a crime as pedophilia is morally acceptable if enough money and fame is involved.

Just over thirty years ago Elvis died of a drug overdose on the eve of a concert tour shocking the world and unleashing a media and tabloid frenzy that lives on to this day- and whose fury will certainly now be visited upon the corpse of Micheal Jackson. How long can it be before a fuzzy cellphone image of him in the morgue appears? Those who knew and were around Elvis knew full well he was in rapid decline and would soon be gone, and most were active enablers. The same will be true of Michael Jackson who long ago transcended the gulf between human and icon and was simply going through the motions until the final step of the journey which he took today.

As in Elvis’ case, it’s a certainty that drugs will prove to be the cause of his demise, drugs he took daily to try to quell the anxiety and depression and fear and despair over his sad life and deteriorating physical condition, a despair that could only have become ever more acute as he tried to come back to the world stage and found he could no longer come close to what he had once been. With his nose all but destroyed by his many surgeries, and reputed to be gone altogether, there is no chance he could have been able to sing as he once did and lip synching would have been a PR disaster. The rehearsals just underway at the Staples Center had to be depressing and no doubt brought on more self medication that surely led to his demise. Having already lost almost all of his money and property, faced with the certain humiliation and legal entanglements that would have resulted in the cancellation of his upcoming shows, for which tickets had already been sold, there was nowhere to go but further down for him.

No one should shocked that Jackson died, the real surprise is that he lasted as long as he did. Like Elvis, Jackson had long since outlived his heyday, and while he retained legions of die-hard fans he would never again be that young vibrant force that riveted the attention of the world. That reality haunted his every day. For the last twenty years the only attention Jackson got was over his bizarre and wholly fabricated “check out how weird I can be” lifestyle, the horrific mess he made of his face, and of course, for his inappropriate relationship with children, his own and other peoples. Like Elvis, his was a life of almost no meaningful adult relationships and he surrounded himself instead with groveling sycophants which leads only to the black hole of loneliness into which they both fell.

What we should all learn from Jackson, and from Elvis, is the value of the moth to the flame quest for fame that seems to consume us all. When that quest is simply the need for validation from strangers to give ourselves meaning and value, as it almost always is, it is sure to become a troubled and wretched road to Despair Town which is where Jackson spent the last years of his tormented life.

The only thing sadder than dying at fifty is having lived for so long in so dark and lonely a place. At least he’s finally found peace.

With the publication of the salacious emails Governor Mark Sanford sent his Argentine mistress you can’t help but think of that poor bastard Larry Craig reaching underneath the bathroom stall to fondle another man’s love gear or former mega church pastor Ted Haggard on his knees buzzing on crystal meth or hooker loving Louisiana Senator David Vitter prancing in ladies underwear. These are all men who worked hard to put up a front as righteous beacons of morality who, underneath, were just as lusty and filthy as the rest of us if not more so. Clinton was a world class bowzer himself who was, like Craig, a danger addict but he never ran his mouth about being a morally righteous guy. That’s what makes the Republican crowd different, the repression, this bizarre pretense of being other than they, and all of us, are.

The problem for these sad men was never the sex it was this repression and the denial of their desire that led to their disgrace. There is no doubt that naughtiness is a formidable component in sex drive and who among us has not felt or, at least considered, the illicit thrill of doing what you are not supposed to do? But the problem for those who repress themselves to the level that these guys did is that the thrill and the lust for it becomes all the more volcanic- and leads to blinding stupidity. Is there another word for an elected official holding his hand under a bathroom stall for another man’s goods or being a governor and just fleeing to Argentina for six days without telling anyone or even making a cover? These are not stupid men, these are people who just overheated themselves in the pressure cooker of denial.

The reality of human existence is that love and sex are complicated, layered collections of emotions and drives that religion has always sought to control and simplify. Love and sex, we are told, are supposed to harmoniously co-exist in the form of a single partner but that almost never ends up being the case. There are virtually no human beings who have never entertained the fantasy of ravishing, or being ravished, beyond the confines of the marital bedroom. While relationships are always give and take endeavors, the lesson here is simply that we have to spare ourselves the pretense of perfection and rectitude and accept ourselves for the complex creatures that we are. This is not to suggest dismantling fidelity and condoning unbridled debauchery but simply that we not try to pretend we are more simple or more capable of walking a narrow path than we are. Sanford’s trip to Argentina- where he just jumped in his car and took off- happened because the guy just cracked under the pressure he put himself under.

The more we pretend we can adhere to scriptural and clerical standards of righteousness, which are literally inhuman, and demonize any deviations, the more attractive a seedy motel, a Men’s Room stall or an Argentine getaway becomes. It’s well known that telling a kid that there is one room he or she is never supposed to go is the one place they will obsess about seeing. Adults are not really very different, and less of the holier than thou preaching and finger wagging- and more we dismiss those who do preach and finger wag as the ones who are deficient- the better we’ll all be.

Also posted at Newsvine.com

Sometimes contentious issues are more complicated than they seem and sometimes they really are that simple. Healthcare reform is very simple. That doesn’t make it easy but it’s not complicated.

It rarely seems to strike people as odd that we call our health coverage “insurance” as though people were cars. Insurance has a deductible and a maximum range of coverage, and we all know that insurance companies will try to avoid paying out in any way they can. Anyone who’s ever been in an accident has had the experience of haggling with their insurance company but few ever seem to ask if that’s how they want to interact where their health, or the health of their loved ones, is concerned. Does it make sense that you need to worry about your deducible when you have a child in the hospital? But we do because we’re so easily manipulated. One of the most powerful slogans against healthcare reform is “do you really want the government between you and your doctor?”

Well, do you prefer the current system with an insurance agent between you and your doctor? An agent for the other side who is, literally and nakedly working against your interest and the very health of you and your family? That’s, literally, what you have, and not only that, but you are playing by the rules that the company wrote in the finest print available with the expressed intent of doing everything possible to denying you medical attention and getting out of paying if they can. Who among us does not have a healthcare insurance horror story about denied coverage? That is the business, plain and simple, and it’s also why health insurance corporations are mobilized to shoot down Obama’s plan and it’s “public option.”

What the public option does is pull the plug on the health insurance scam that preys on the health of the country and games all of us to benefit shareholders. What the public option does is cover every American, and not throw away the people who’ve already had medical problems that need to be addressed. You hear Republicans, who are carrying the healthcare industry’s water, moan about how a public option will “end competition” and “force people into socialized medicine.” Yes, the public option would certainly end competition as it’s played out now- exclusively by corporate entities who make huge profits at the expense of our health. A public option kills that competition because consumers will not be forced into the government option but will flock to it because it will be a public service aimed at health and not a scam aimed gaming your wallet and raping you and your family in your sick bed. What a concept.

But here comes the sad part. We all know how bad the current system is and last week’s New York Times poll showed that 72% of Americans favor reform with a public plan, and 54% even said they’d pay higher taxes to support it. But it ain’t gonna happen because defying the might of the health insurance lobby who have millions of dollars- all earned by fleecing us- to spend defending their interests would be political suicide. The healthcare industry will be safe until it runs itself into a ditch the way Wall Street did, which might not be that far off. But isn’t that a sad testimony to our democracy?

Also posted at Newsvine.com

The biggest problem infallible dictators have is that they buy into their own hype and today Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s “Supreme Leader” pushed all his chips out on his losing hand. The problem for Khamenei is that his power was derived from small groups of men cloistered well away from the reality of daily life in their country. Like most unsophisticated leaders who face crisis, he opted to try to play the mad Daddy card and the problem for him is that Iran is not Zimbabwe and he is not Robert Mugabe.

Iran is a highly developed country filled with educated people who understand the world they live in far better than Khamenei does. Though he did sit at the feet of Khomeini, Khamenei, lest we forget, is not even a qualified Ayatollah but rather a wily political animal who’s true power was born out of the Iran-Iraq war. He is far more like former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf than he is like his former mentor.

The great elephant in the room for Khamenei has always been keeping the delicate balance between military dictatorship and democracy. He has always essentially been the former but the very key to the maintenance of his power was not being seen as such. He has always wisely let elected presidents do the visible national and international duties in public even though they’ve been on a very short leash. By not soiling his hands in public doing the work of politics he has been able to stay above it and maintain his standing as the national spiritual leader. Today he blew his cover.

Khamenei had several options when he appeared before the embattled country for Friday prayers today. The smart play would have been to ensure the nation that their voices matter and their votes should count and that any irregularities in their election would be investigated. The really smart play, the one Mao would have used, would have then to put some bureaucrat up before the cameras and call him a traitor to the people for misconduct and to lop his head off. But once an investigation was declared, he could easily have dragged his feet on it until the protesters got tired and went home.

Instead, he looked his nation in the eye and lied to them. Nakedly and boldly. Fearing the thin edge of the wedge of reform that could cast his robed butt out into the street, he let his countrymen and woman know that he was the boss, not them, and if they didn’t like it he would bring the military down on them. Amedenijad’s legitimacy is total gone and democracy, even the sham version, is now dead in Iran. It is now, clearly, a dictatorship and the Iranian people are not going to accept that.

Ironically, like the Shah before him, Khamenei’s misunderstanding of his country and his fellow Iranians will now be his undoing.

Also posted at Newsvine

There are times like today that demostrate just how terrible mainstream news coverage is in this country. Honestly. We all understand that it’s a business and they try to make the most out of each and every story possible to gain our attention, but today’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum should be an example for journalism schools across the land. No one on television is wearing their thinking cap.

If you have not seen the news yet, when you turn it on you will be blasted with coverage and wild speculation about a guy who brought a rifle into the Holocaust Museum and starting shooting. Tragically, a security guard named Tyrone Johns was killed, and nothing can reduce the loss to his family in this terrible incident. He acted heroically and he should be acknowledged for that. It is certainly a news story. That said, however, this was a nut with a gun who just lost it. All the overheated blather about conspiracies and white supremacist groups fanning out across the country to perpetrate their foul agenda ignores one very obvious fact.

The guy brought a rifle to a museum. How organized does that sound to you? How far do you think anyone gets in this day and age brandishing a rifle around Washington D.C. The answer is not very far, which is exactly how far this meathead got. And what kind of damage would a conspiring organization expect to do with a guy with a rifle in a museum? You guessed it, probably hurt or kill one or two people before they were taken down themselves. Granted, the kind of folks who join white supremacist outfits don’t tend to be Astro Physicists but even the most bone headed of them would figure out at the very least that two concealed hand guns would have at least some chance of getting past the initial line of security to make whatever violent point was in their wee brains. A rifle is the weapon of choice of a guy who just snapped.

The point is that this was certainly a tragedy, especially for Mr. John’s family and friends and everyone’s hearts should go out to them. But a conspiracy this was not. If our media can’t help itself freaking out whenever it gets the slightest chance, we all need to be sure we don’t join them.

Also posted at Newsvine.com

It was bound to happen. In the ever intensifying jockeying for leadership position in the moribund Republican Party someone from the whackjob wing was going to go too far and it was bound to be Newty. Rush, of course, runs his foaming pie hole for the three, fun-filled, hours in the day he’s not putting actual pie into it, and his game is ratings so he’s always going to say outrageous stuff. Sarah Palin is holding her breath like a fangirl who somehow got into the Gossip Girls VIP party and is trying not to blow it and Romney doesn’t have the imagination to come up with anything any zestier than fast food ketchup. Newty was always going to be the one to tank in public because he’s the one who is so convinced of his own righteousness and genius that he doesn’t feel the need to think before he speaks.

Newty showed us all just where the nutty tipping point was when he came out this morning and apologized to Supreme Court Justice candidate Sotomayor for calling her a racist (he actually used the term “reverse racist,” which makes as much sense as calling Obama a “reverse president” but which he and Rush nevertheless must have thought was somehow more moderate). By doing so he suffered a huge blow to whatever Quixotic, Goldwater-falling on the sword, dream he had of running for president because he acknowledged the electoral poison he put in his own well.

First and foremost, Newty is not one given to apologies and the fact that he did it shows just how intense the pressure on him was- and it wasn’t the hapless Michael Steele (whose call it’s doubtful Newty would even take), it was the serious, actually elected office holding wing of the party. These are the folks who are looking at re-election campaigns, and who wield the big check books, and who are trained in polling math. They know that Newty and Rush are loudly signing an operatic death scene for their party and every day that passed with the two of them occupying center stage brought the curtain lowering closer. Until Newty stepped in it.

The happy reality of America today is that, while most of us remain what Nixon called “the silent majority” the ground has significantly shifted under our cultural feet. Even a few years ago, Newty’s comment would have scored the intended points with the Republican base but done little more than roll the eyes of the rest of us. While his words no doubt resonated with those who drink from jugs marked XXX and have names for their guns, the rest of us understand the ever more integrated world we live in- and we don’t hate it. Every day that passes, and every day that hating others becomes less popular makes Newty look like a Mississippi sheriff trying to hold off reality with a fire hose.

Newty and his cohorts embody ugliness and his apology signals that the rest of his party, at least those with real power, don’t want to be associated with it anymore. They may actually be on the mend.

Also posted at Newsvine